euromillions

This morning, someone in Dublin woke up 175,000,000 million euro, and wow gosh, we're sooooo delighted for them.

While we couldn't be more pleased that someone other than ourselves is now mega rich, we couldn't help but ponder on what we would purchase as our first big Euromillions spend.

A luxurious holiday? A flash car? A mad expensive ostrich skin hand bag? Nah – top of the list has to be growing that property portfolio (or just starting one). We've been creeping around the internet, searching for our perfect habitats in Dublin (seeing as that is where the winning lotto ticket was purchased) and we have compiled a list of our faves that we will probably never be able to afford bu hey, it's fun to fantasize:

You could buy around 140 of these stunning houses for your Euromillions fee.

On the market by Gallagher Quigley, this iconic 19th century mansion with sprawling grounds and a sea view is the perfect family home. It even has a spiral staircase leading from the garden to the exterior terrace where you have a gorge view of Dublin Bay.

This period home was once owned by the Jameson family – so it comes with some glam history as well as walk in wardrobes.

Where else is there to go when you want peace and quiet to count all your money? Why, your own private island of course.

Now, we know we said we would keep all of our homes to the Dublin region, but with all those millions, chartering a yacht from Dublin bay to Schull shouldn't be too much of an issue.

The island comes with a STUNNING main home, as well as six guest houses, so it's perfect for family to visit once you've had your fill of solitary island living. The views are breathtaking, and you could probably bride a Deliveroo guy to get the boat over with your order if you tip him well enough.

If you've ever purchased a Lotto ticket at the Kilmoon Service Station in Ashbourne, Co Meath, you may want to stop reading right here.

According to an appeal issued by the Lotto Headquarters yesterday, time has officially run out for the person who purchased a winning Euromillions ticket at the Meath service station earlier this year.

On September 25, a €7 Quickpick was bought and subsequently netted a staggering €500,000 in the following night's draw, but unfortunately the 'lucky' person failed to come forward and claim their prize in the three months that followed.

Yesterday, National Lottery Chief Executive, Dermot Griffin, issued an urgent appeal to the public to check any old tickets they may have.

"There are just hours left to claim on this EuroMillions Plus ticket worth €500,000 and we are once again appealing to our players to check their tickets carefully."

"The deadline for this prize is today. We are open after the Christmas break and we would love to see the winner or winners make contact.”

We have no idea if this is a case that somebody is not aware of their good fortune, or if they are waiting until the last minute to make their claim," he continued. "We urge anybody who bought a EuroMillions Plus ticket in Meath three months ago to check their numbers just in case.

Ladies, if you can stomach rooting through your belongings, the winning numbers were 17, 31, 37, 40, 46.

Former EuroMillions winner, Dolores McNamara, and her children are suing The Irish Times over false housing claims.

The publication reported that that she had 40 houses seized in Detroit, in the United States, due to not paying her taxes.

According to The Sunday World, Doroles and her solicitors are set to issue High Court proceedings against the Irish paper, as well as other news outlets in Limerick and Dublin, who apparently ran the story last month.

"It is important to point out that no properties were seized in Detroit and the reality is that Dolores and her family had divested themselves of the properties in question," a source told The Sunday World.

The EuroMillions winner, who scored the jackpot of €115 million in 2005, has a number of properties in Dublin, Limerick and the US.

From our wonderful park-lands, dramatic coastlines and rolling fields, to world-class libraries and ancient castles, we can proudly lay claim to plenty of internationally-renowned tourist gems.

But just for a moment image this: we cherry-pick the best of the rest from the most fun and fabulous attractions around the world… and create our very own (superior!) versions just for the people of this great land to enjoy on their doorstep…

1) Disneyland Drogheda

Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, Orlando… they ALL have a Walt Disney theme-park packed full of fun. And now it’s Ireland’s turn.

Located just off the M1, Disneyland Drogheda would boast its very own Space Mountain, Cinderella Castle and Animal Kingdom experience, as well as head-turning daily parades and spectacular firework displays.

2) Circuit de Moneygall, Offaly

A vital new addition to the Formula 1 racing schedule – Circuit de Moneygall would be a world-class circuit holding a Grand Prix to rival Silverstone, Monza, and Monaco.

Conveniently positioned in Moneygall – a town, of course, made famous by Barack Obama – it would have state-of-the-art facilities for drivers, teams, media, and spectators.

3) Sydney Parade Opera House, Dublin

Hosting the crème de la crème of the entertainment world, Sydney Parade Opera House would sit proudly in Dublin Bay over-looking the water.

With acts and performers arriving from Broadway and the West End, Ireland would enjoy year-round second-to-none concerts, shows, and gigs.

4) Wet ‘n’ Wild, Athlone

A water-park to rival the world's biggest and the best, Wet ‘n’ Wild Athlone would attract a steady-stream of international tourists.

Sitting on the expansive Lough Ree, highlights would include tube and freefall slides, lazy and wave pools, as well as top-notch water-sport facilities.

5) Lusk Vegas, Dublin

North county Dublin’s answer to the City Of Lights, this resort would boast Ireland’s very own Bellagio and Caesar’s Palace hotels, as well as a Little White Chapel perfect for a quick and easy wedding ceremony.

Furthermore, casinos and restaurants would be bathed in bright neon lights along the glittering Lusk Vegas Strip.

6) The Rink at Blackrockefeller Center, Cork

Complete with its trademark 5.5metres-tall gilded bronze sculpture of Prometheus, The Rink at Blackrockefeller Center would understandably be a major draw to Cork – quickly rivalling its Manhattan counterpart as the world’s most iconic place to ice-skate.

At Christmas it would really come into its own, sporting a 30metre-tall Norway spruce fir complete with oodles of festival lighting and decorations.

7) The Letterkenny Eye, Donegal

Nestled on the River Swilly and extending to an impressive 150metres tall, the Letterkenny Eye would be a Ferris wheel to rival all others.

Attracting hundreds of thousands of tourists to the town, the wheel would soon be established as the very symbol of Donegal.

8) Palm Islands, Rosslare

The sunny south-east would be the perfect place for Ireland’s answer to Dubai’s spectacular coastline extension.

Palm Island, Rosslare would accommodate a stunning complex of five-star residential units, leisure and entertainment attractions, as well as hundreds of kilometres of unspoilt sandy white beaches and palm trees.

But if you assume these dreams are all a little too far-fetched – think again. That’s because of tonight’s incredible EuroMillions draw. A cool €130million to dream not just big, but monumentally so… allowing the winner to #ShareTheDream with the wider community.

Be quick though: you have until 7.30pm this evening to play EuroMillions a retail agent outlets, via lottery.ie, or using the National Lottery app.

Stories of people unearthing winning Lottery tickets from beneath piles of laundry or from between the seats of their car aren't exactly a daily occurrence, but they have been known to happen.

With that in mind, the good folk behind the National Lottery have urged the public to double-check old tickets and have a quick gander around the gaf to make sure they're not sitting on a gold mine right now.

And what's with the rush?

Well, back on May 6th, a very fortunate member of the public bought a Euromillions ticket which went on to scoop a staggering €381,863… but they have yet to cash that bad boy in.

Whether they're already minted and can spare the cash or they've simply tossed the ticket aside unaware they could be bathing in fifties right now, the powers that be want to remind them that they have only a few HOURS left to claim the prize.

Bought in Tesco, Market Green Shopping Centre, in Middleton, Co Cork on the day of the draw, the winner's Quick Pick ticket snagged the Matching 5 + 1 Lucky Star in the draw, and they have until 5.30pm today to come forward.

The Euromillions jackpot was, once again, won in Ireland this weekend, resulting in 22 VERY happy Dublin Bus workers.

The jackpot of €24 million was won by a syndicate of 22 Dublin bus employees, who are all great friends, on Friday night.

Here is everything we know so far…

1. The syndicate was made of 22 men that work for Dublin Bus.

2. Insiders have said that two of the winners recently retired from work, while another two are currently off work on sick-leave.

3. Dublin Bus Chief Executive Ray Coyne has also congratulated the winners, saying “I am delighted for each and every one of them and their families. It is great to see such a large number of our employees sharing in the win. We wish them all the best.”

4. None of the jackpot winners have spoken out as of yet, but five of the lucky men turned up to work this morning- FAIR PLAY.

5. Unbelievably another syndicate based at the bus same depot won more than €4,000 in the same lotto draw. Winners of this walked away with €126 each.

6. Former Lord Mayor of Dublin, Christy Burke, has also spoken out, sending his well-wishes to the 22 new millionaires.

Mr Burke said “It’s great to see it was workers who have been giving out tickets all their lives that finally got the right one."

7. The jackpot was made up of €23.8 million, which will give each of the winners each a fortune of €1.08 million.

8. This is not the first time that the jackpot has been won in Ireland. In 2005, Dolores McNamara from Limerick, won a casual €115 million in the competition, making her one of the wealthiest people in Ireland.

IMAGINE cleaning up your room, finding a Euromillions ticket and poof! You've just won €500,000. It would be pretty sweet, right?

Well, that exact scenario has just happened to a man in Dublin.

According to The Journal, the man, who wants to remain anonymous, said that his wife asked him to clean up a pile of papers, and he couldn't believe what he found.

"I was cleaning up a pile of old tickets and I just started checking them on my phone. When I saw that I had won the plus draw, I had to keep scanning my tickets with my wife to make sure we had won.

“It’s hard to imagine that I had a €500,000 winning ticket rolled up into a ball on my floor for three weeks.”

The winning ticket was a quick pick selection and was purchased in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

When asked how he'll spend his good fortune, the Dubliner said: "We are going to pay off our mortgage first and foremost while the rest of the money will be put towards our children’s education over the next number of years.”

So we know most people would probably spend quite some time touring around the world if they happened to scoop the Euromillions jackpot.

However, if your first port of call is a new house… then we have just the abode for you.

And sure, if you're an overnight multi-millionaire (oh yeah, tonight's jackpot is worth €30m), you may as well splash the cash and be truly lavish.

In fact, we've decided the first thing we're going to do if our lucky numbers do get picked, is buy Glin Castle in Co. Limerick… because we REALLY need 21 bedrooms.

Our future home comes in at a huge €6.5m which will seem like pocket-change once we win all those millions. This mansion sits on more than 150 hectares of park land and contains formal gardens as well as a functioning dairy farm on the grounds.

It extends to 2,000sq metres over three floors, which we reckon is is plenty of room for our new personal trainers to take us for jogs in the morning. Heck! We could actually even have our own music festival on the grounds.

The house is a romantic, fairytale style castle and is just the type of luxury we are after.

It's a tad old-fashioned, but we plan to do pimp it out with a home cinema, a glam room (or two), walk-in wardrobes galore and maybe a swimming pool and jacuzzi for good measure.

The last Knight of Glin, DesmondFitzGerald, died four years ago; his family have lived in situ for an incredible 700 years.

What we also love for our €6.5m? The great hall would definitely be good for great parties. Featuring symbols of Ireland, it has never been restored since its construction in the 1780s.

Off this party space is a magnificent double-flying staircase – the only one of its kind in Ireland – and a swish Venetian window.

There is even a secret passageway: concealed within a broken mahogany book case.

Over the years the likes Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull and TalithaGetty have all stayed there. There are further celebconnections too: the last Knight's daughter Catherine FitzGerald is married to Dominic West of The Wire fame. She is selling up along with her two sisters, who both live abroad.

Still if all else fails and we don't win the Euromillions, what about a load of us chip in and buy it together?

You may really, really, want to win the lottery – but we wouldn't hold our breaths if we were you… Here are some things that are in fact, much more likely to happen than getting a winning Euromillions ticket.

1. Date A Millionaire (In America)

Odds: 1 in 215

That’s right, you are over 500,000 times more likely to date a millionaire than you are to win the Euromillions. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with being a gold digger, men and women alike!

2. Find A Four-Leaf Clover

Odds: 1 in 10,000

Perceived as one of the luckiest things that can happen to anyone, in the context of this list it appears to actually be quite common.

3. Win An Oscar

Odds: 1 in 11,500

Obviously there’s a lot of hard work involved in getting yourself to a level where you’ll be considered for the award, but of course you don’t have to act, and can be anything from a singer, to a make-up artist, to a big computer nerd.

4. Average Golfer Getting A Hole In One

Odds: 1 in 12,500

And the odds significantly decrease if it’s a pro golfer, obviously, with the odds of one of them scoring one being 2500/1.

5. Be Dealt A Royal Flush In Poker

Odds: 1 in 650,000

The best hand in poker, for those who don’t know, it consists of a ten, jack, queen, king and ace, all of the same suit.

6. Win An Olympic Gold Medal

Odds: 1 in 662,000

Again, like winning an Oscar, there is an incredible amount of hard work involved in actually getting there. But with these odds, even if you did no training at all and just showed up on the day of the event, you’d still be more likely of winning a medal than winning a Euromillions jackpot.

7. Be Killed When Using A Right-Handed Product (Left-Handed People Only)

Odds: 1 in 4.4-7,000,000

This is the main reason why the life expectancy of lefties is up to 7 years shorter than right-handed people, but I’m left-handed and I don’t ever feel like my life has been in danger when using a scissors with the wrong hand. Although it is pretty frustrating.

8. Hit By A Falling Airplane Part

Odds: 1 in 10,000,000

I’m not sure how big these pieces are, and whether they are critical to the plane’s ability to stay in the air. Which if they are, means much more people are in danger than the unfortunate person getting hit on the head with a piece of metal.

(Note: Picture will only make sense to fans of Breaking Bad)

9. Struck And Killed By Lightning

Odds: 1 in 10,000,000

But the odds of just getting struck by lightning at any time in your life, and not die, is anything from 3 to 7,000 to 1.

10. Become The President Of The United States

Odds: 1 in 10,000,000

You have to be born in the United States to be the President, so obviously this makes it impossible for most people in the world to become elected. But anything that is less likely than Honey Boo-Boo’s mother becoming the leader of the free world is not something that you should ever put money towards.

11. Attacked By A Shark (Again, In America)

Odds: 1 in 11,500,000

Considering how scared everyone is of sharks, this number is actually ridiculously big And it’s still ten times smaller than the odds of winning this stupid lottery.

12. Give Birth To Identical Quadruplets

Odds: 1 in 13 million

This means that a single egg will have had to have been split up into four different parts, and then for them all to grow individually and be born healthily. Even if you know any triplets, let alone quadruplets, just think about, are they identical?

13. Become A Saint

Odds: 1 in 20,000,000

A true dream…

14. Crushed By Vending Machine

Odds: 1 in 112,000,000

Considering how cheap some people are and are willing to shake the machines in the hope of getting free food, this number is surprisingly high.

15. Die Waiting For The Numbers To Be Announced

Odds: Depends on when you buy the ticket.

According to the death rates in Britain, the average 15-24 year old would actually have to wait until 12 minutes before the draw is announced before buying their ticket, to make it more likely that they will win the jackpot than to die waiting for it. And anyone over 85 has to wait until literally the last second before this is becomes true. Obviously being healthy and exercising can skew the odds in your favour, but when you find out that you can only buy tickets up until 90 minutes before the draw is made, this whole paragraph becomes irrelevant, and you are basically always more likely to die before the draw is made, than to win when it finally is.